The invention is directed to automated monitoring and control of contamination in a production area, particularly automated monitoring and control of contamination of the production area by an individual working in the production area.
Contamination of a production area by workers can occur if, for example, a worker handles food product without wearing sterile gloves, or without wearing a hair net. Contamination of a production area, particularly contamination of product being produced in a production area, can easily occur in a wide variety of industries, where hygiene is needed to prevent contamination by biological contaminants and other contaminants. Such industries include the food industry, the pharmaceutical industry, hospitals, doctors' offices, outpatient clinics, and other health-services and health-product related industries, in which microbial and other contamination can have adverse consequences on the consumer of the services and/or products.
Yet other industries require contamination-free, high purity production environments because contamination can negatively impact the function and/or aesthetics of the resulting product. One such industry is the manufacture of semiconductor devices, microelectronics, microchips, and integrated circuits. Another industry in which contamination negatively impacts product quality is the coating (e.g., painting) of various products, including automotive, furniture, construction, and other products, in which contaminants adversely affect the appearance, feel, or durability of the coating applied to the product. The presence of skin oils, airborne dust, and other contaminants from workers can result in product defects during one or more phases of the manufacturing process.
Although there are numerous vendors supplying the market with contamination control equipment (hereinafter, “CCE”) such as gloves, face masks, hair nets, aprons, gowns, etc., and although employers require employees to wear CCE, the cost of contamination in the workplace remains high. Manual monitoring of employees, vendors, and visitors through close circuit camera or direct supervision is both expensive and subjective. The overall reporting of violations can be inaccurate and unverifiable.
There is a need for a system that accurately monitors individuals as they work in a production area, to ensure that they wear required articles of CCE and to ensure that the required contamination-control protocol is followed to avoid contamination of products and/or injury to the ultimate consumer of the product.